I don't think all the Occupy protesters are for eliminating free-enterprise. There are legitimate grievances to be had with how the major banks operated and continue to operate. It's no just things that are seen as wrong but not currently illegal, there's actually evidence of illegal activity that nobody has yet challenged. Then there's the issue of our corrupt crony-capitalist government. A lot of people are fed up with not having a voice in our government due to the corporate funded two party stranglehold that completely dominates our political system.

Also, the claim that seeking employment is "doing something" while protesting is "whining" is a bit off. Consider the fact that the majority of protesters are in fact employed. Also, if there is a structural issue with employment in the economy, one person's gain is another person's loss. Simply telling people to compete harder for a limited number of bread crumbs does nothing. If you say that then all you're doing is advocating social darwinism. It seems a lot of Americans can't get past looking at everything through the eyes of the "individual". Is the existence of a complex economic system that can be skewed by certain forces beyond any one individual really beyond people's comprehension?

Thing is not all the occupy protesters have the same opinions, or exact same issues with the system....so its kind of hard to generalize what exactly the movement is about without being kind of vauge. Or at least that seems to be the main issue I run into when trying to describe it.

_________________All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to seeDust in the windAll we are is dust in the wind

I don't think all the Occupy protesters are for eliminating free-enterprise. There are legitimate grievances to be had with how the major banks operated and continue to operate. It's no just things that are seen as wrong but not currently illegal, there's actually evidence of illegal activity that nobody has yet challenged. Then there's the issue of our corrupt crony-capitalist government. A lot of people are fed up with not having a voice in our government due to the corporate funded two party stranglehold that completely dominates our political system.

Also, the claim that seeking employment is "doing something" while protesting is "whining" is a bit off. Consider the fact that the majority of protesters are in fact employed. Also, if there is a structural issue with employment in the economy, one person's gain is another person's loss. Simply telling people to compete harder for a limited number of bread crumbs does nothing. If you say that then all you're doing is advocating social darwinism. It seems a lot of Americans can't get past looking at everything through the eyes of the "individual". Is the existence of a complex economic system that can be skewed by certain forces beyond any one individual really beyond people's comprehension?

Thing is not all the occupy protesters have the same opinions, or exact same issues with the system....so its kind of hard to generalize what exactly the movement is about without being kind of vauge. Or at least that seems to be the main issue I run into when trying to describe it.

It seems a lot of the criticism of it is vague as well. Seems a lot of people just have to be condescending towards people they see as a bunch of head-in-the-clouds hippies so they can pat themselves on the back for being tough hard-nosed realists who are above that sort of thing.

As promised, the Occupy movement is using violence to get attention. Baiting the police to use tear gas and baton charges is a tried and tested method of making it to the news headlines. Expect more as the weather gets warmer as ratcheting up the stakes is the only way the media is going to be willing to cover them in an election year. They will of course claim to be peaceful or that the violence was perpetrated by some radical fringe, but we know better.

As promised, the Occupy movement is using violence to get attention. Baiting the police to use tear gas and baton charges is a tried and tested method of making it to the news headlines. Expect more as the weather gets warmer as ratcheting up the stakes is the only way the media is going to be willing to cover them in an election year. They will of course claim to be peaceful or that the violence was perpetrated by some radical fringe, but we know better.

What proof do you have that the violence was not perpetrated by some radical fringe or even hired? You can claim the occupy movement is all about violence all you want but that is simply not the case. Also most of the main-stream media just feeds everyone lies, it seems to me the police have gotten pretty violent themselves even in un-provoked cases so don't give me...'they deserve to get pepper sprayed and beat down by they police because they started it, that's bs...besides on the news they don't usually show the full story so you don't know if the cops perpetrated the violence or if someone in the protest did. I guess the only real way is to go down to one of the protests and see for yourself. But that's all up to you I'm not going to try and convince you what to think.

_________________All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to seeDust in the windAll we are is dust in the wind

Thing is not all the occupy protesters have the same opinions, or exact same issues with the system....so its kind of hard to generalize what exactly the movement is about without being kind of vauge. Or at least that seems to be the main issue I run into when trying to describe it.

I can sympathize with this, but I'd rather have vague than no answer at all. Right now it seems like OWS is becoming just a political crowd - people gauge to see how popular it has/hasn't become, and take sides with the winning side.